Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) unveiled to the media on Wednesday a new model of its Shinkansen bullet train during a test run of an eight-car length of the train at the company's factory in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture.
The N700S model's unique feature is its capability to run in various lengths such as 12 cars and eight cars, as its underfloor devices have been downsized, made lighter and arranged with better balance. On the company's Tokaido Shinkansen line between Tokyo and Osaka, trains normally run in a 16-car length.
The latest model's feature of flexibility is expected to enable JR Tokai to run the model on overseas railways where various train lengths are used, such as Taiwan and Texas in the United States, to which the company also aims to export its Shinkansen.
The company plans to start operating the new model in fiscal 2020. Masayuki Ueno, deputy head of the company's Shinkansen Operations Division, said: "We want to steadily move forward with the test with an eight-car length. We expect [the latest model] to become a symbol of the new Tokaido Shinkansen line."
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